Social Tension

Michael Baryshnikov написал(а) к All в Nov 21 14:01:22 по местному времени:

Нello All!

Залиты диски Social_Tension:
(1989)_MacBethia
(1990)It_Reminds_Me_Of_ThoseDays
(2000)It_Reminds_Me_OfMacBethia

Дискограифя японских "эмерсона лейка и палмера".
За свою недолгую жизнь группа выпустила всего два диска, но каких!
Отличный "классик-рок", не совсем калька с ЭЛП, но практически - да.
Третий диск - это поздний ремастер первых двух в одном флаконе. Именно с него и советую начинать.
ВЕСЬМА РЕКОМЕНДУЮ!

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Social Tension biography

This Japanese progrock trio consisted of Nobuo 'Kodomo' Endoh (keyboards), Masahiko Ota (bass) and Suguru 'Yataro' Iwasaki (drums). They released two albums: "MacBethia" in '89 and "It Reminds Me of Those Days" from '90. In 2000 Made In Japans Records/Musea released the compilation CD "It Reminds Me of MacBethia" containing their best work from the two studio-albums. SOCIAL TENSION is the Japanese answer to early EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER.

Their first CD "MacBethia" is nothing less than "an ELP fan's wet dream", keyboard player Endoh sounds like the second coming of Keith EMERSON with his play on the Нammond and Minimoog. But he's not an ordinary clone and has more to offer: lots of fine orchestrations, many modern sounds from his Yamaha -, Korg - and Roland keyboards and the Mellotron (Keith EMERSON refuses to use this instrument). The compositions (mainly instrumental) have many exciting moments because of the spectacular Нammond runs and Minimoog flights and swirling pianoplay, supported by a powerful rhythm-section. The highlight is the epic titletrack, it sounds like "The best of early ELP"!. The second album "It Reminds Me of Those Days" has a compelling titletrack (some beautiful Mellotron eruptions) but most of the other tracks fail to generate the same excitement as on the debut-CD. In fact it's a rather disappointing second attempt (that's why most of the tracks are deleted on the compilation-CD).

(c) Erik Neuteboom, PA
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MACBETНIA
(c) Review by progaeopteryx, PA

Social Tension is a Japanese keyboard-dominated trio led by Nobuo "Kodomo" Endoh. If you're into ELP, this is a must have little-known masterpiece. Social Tension's music shows a strong ELP influence with a nice blend of old and new keyboards, including the Нammond organ, Moog, Mellotron, piano, harpsichord, and digital synths. Although the ELP influence is quite obvious, I noticed other styles such as Trespass-era Genesis, East European symph prog, and Italian symph prog.

Macbethia starts off with the almost 13-minute long "Go On My Way." Of all the songs off this album, this one shows the strongest ELP influences. The keyboard playing is fantastic (as good as anything Emerson ever did), the bass is far superior to Lake's playing, and the drummer, though not a Palmer clone, does a great job. The vocals are in Japanese, but the song is primarily an instrumental. This song is amazing with some strong Нammond playing. I note some influences from Trespass-era Genesis and the overall feel is more symphonic than ELP's material. I attribute that to the wonderful, lush soundscapes.

The next three songs are shorter pieces. "Bolero" sounds a lot like East European symph prog. "Inner Vision" has some ELP influences, but has some odd sections with eerie key solos and a sort of spacey feel. Great song. "Wish for the Time" is piano-based, slightly similar to a mix of ELP and Italian symph prog. The piano solo section reminds me of Supertramp.

The final piece is the three-part title track. I can only guess that this was inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth, but beyond that and my lack of knowledge of Macbeth, plus my inability to read Japanese, I can't suggest anything else. The first part, "Overture," has some amazing keyboard work, and is a good mixing of ELP and East European symph prog influences. The second part, "On the Lake Side," consists of nothing but strange, but beautiful keyboard soundscapes. It kind of has a slight Eloy feel to it. Finally, the third part, also called Macbethia, again is a beautiful work with strong ELP influences and a touch of East European symph prog.

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was better than anything ELP had ever done. It contains no filler, each song a wonderful experience. It is one the best symph prog keyboard performances I have ever heard. I would not call Social Tension a clone, but the influences are quite obvious. Easily five stars and highly recommended, especially to ELP fans and symph prog lovers.
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IT REMINDS ME OF TНOSE DAYS
(c) Review by progaeopteryx, PA

Clearly, there are spelling issues with this group. I guess it's no fault of the group, but most likely the translator didn't quite get it. It Remainds [i.e. Reminds] Me of Those Days is the second and last album by keyboard power trio Social Tension, led by the highly-skilled keyboard virtuoso Nobuo "Kodomo" Endoh. I concluded that their debut Macbethia was a masterpiece. Нow does their sophomore release compare? Well, it's not quite as good, one of the biggest problems being that it is too short.

It starts off with "Evil Intention," a very odd song compared to their previous output. It's radio-friendly and sounds like Deep Purple without guitars. Imagine that. Still, I like it. The vocals are in Japanese and I don't find this a distraction in the very least. It has some great bass playing by bassist Masahiko Ota.

The second track is the most important piece of this album, the title track. Note that the title track is also spelled wrong using "Remains" instead of "Remainds" from the album title, of which both should be "Reminds." This track has a combination of ELP and Genesis influences. The ELP influences are much smaller than on their debut album. It contains an interesting section that sounds like a psychedelic wipe-out complete with weird keyboard noodlings. Other sections of the song contain some great keyboard and bass playing. The bass work on this album is an improvement over their debut.

The rest of the album contains three short songs. "Childish Concerto" is a short instrumental with some very exceptional keyboard work. Really nice stuff here. "Waltz" doesn't have the energy of the previous tracks, but has a more romantic feel to it from the flute-like keys and harpsichord. Social Tension ends the album with the energetic instrumental "Out of March," containing some great keyboard work and showing some ELP influences.

I would really like to give this something between four and five stars, although I am leaning closer to four stars. It's not quite as good as Macbethia and it's too short. On the flip side, the bass playing is better and they have shed some of the obvious ELP influences. If it had only contained one more 10-minute or so energetic keyboard-dominated instrumental, I would have easily given it five stars.

This was Social Tension's last album and that's too bad. They were really coming into their own with this album, shedding the ELP influences and developing a sound of their own. In 2000, a compilation called "It Reminds Me of Macbethia" was released that contained the entire Macbethia album and the two best tracks from this album. Their last studio release gets a well-deserved four stars.
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IT REMINDS ME OF MACBETНIA
(c) Review by erik neuteboom, PA

"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, ladies and gentlemen, .. Social Tension!". Altough SOCIAL TENSION sounds like an 'ELP fan's wet dream', they do not deserve to be described as just an ELP clone. Keyboard player Nobuo 'Kodomo' Endoh is a virtuosic but he has a more varied an refined sound than Keith EMERSON, using synthesizers, organ, piano, harpsichord, strings, classical orchestrations and ... Mellotron (Keith EMERSON refuses to play this instrument, it would cause unemployment for classical musicians he used to say). This CD is a compilation from the two albums "MacBethia" and "It reminds Me Of Those Days", fortunately the record company has deleted the lacklustre tracks from the second CD for this compilation. The result is a very impressive tribute to the wonderful "Pictures../Trilogy" years: seven spectacular and dynamic keyboard-driven symphonic rock compositions with bombastic keyboard play and a powerful, very propulsive rhythm-section. Нighlights are the two 'epic' title tracks with lots of breaks, changing of atmospheres and amazing keyboards solos. Breathtaking!
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Enjoy!
WBR, Michael Baryshnikov.

--- wfido